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Music of Your Life has been in continuous
operation since 1978 and is a satellite-delivered Radio network
featuring the Adult Standards radio format. Created by
record executive and jingle writer Al Ham, Music of Your Life has approximately 50
affiliates, mostly AM stations.

The format is hosted by well-known celebrity DJs
including TV game show
host and singer/entertainer Peter
Marshall; as well as singer/entertainer Pat Boone. Other on-air personalities include
Lori Hafer (a recording artist and member of the Hillside Singers who is also the daughter
of the format's founder, Al Ham), Al Hardee, Johnny Magnus and
singer Steve March Torme, son of legendary entertainer, Mel Torme,
Telarc Records artist, Tony DeSare, Gold Label singer, Ryan DeHues
and from Sydney Australia, Ben Starr. Les Brown, Jr. recently
returned the the network with his own weekend show. Over the years,
the Radio Network has featured a "Stars Play the Stars" on-air
lineup that has included such well recognized talent as TV game show host Wink
Martindale, Gary
Owens from Rowan & Martin's
Laugh-In and 1950s pop superstar Patti Page, as well as
Southern California broadcasting's Chuck Southcott. A typical hour
of music (see below) may include a wide variety of artists, ranging
from Frank
Sinatra to Dean
Martin, Nat King
Cole to Tony
Bennett and Ella Fitzgerald to Michael Buble.

History

Al Ham, a veteran recording
executive, decided to change careers in 1978. First he took time
off from actual work, moving from New York City to Huntington, Connecticut. Realizing that
many of the songs he liked could not be heard on the radio, he
decided to give the many fans of nostalgia/big band music what
they wanted to hear.

Ham approached Dick Ferguson, general manager of the Bridgeport, Connecticut radio
station, about changing the format. Ferguson agreed, and positive
results followed. Ham continued to work toward improving the
format, including asking listeners to submit a list of three
favorite songs. With thousands of responses, Ham put together a
list of 20,000 songs and "Music of Your Life" was born.

Because the target audience of this music was
listeners over 50, Ham had difficulty selling the idea of syndication. Finally Jim West listened. West
and Ham had both played bass—West in Las Vegas, and Ham in the orchestras
of Tex Beneke and Artie Shaw. Both men
wanted to see their favorite music on the radio again.

Together, they convinced Bob Lappin of WMAS in Springfield, Massachusetts
(now WHLL) to play the music.
After a year, the format had three stations. But the success of the
format attracted many more affiliates.

Ham put the best of his music on reel-to-reel tapes
and used a scheduling method called matched-flow sequencing (a
concept pioneered by beautiful music radio), which made each
song part of a group.

Ham's strategy worked very well. Most radio stations reported
that people listened for 3 hours. Ham's stations achieved numbers
four to five times this figure.

More and more stations joined the network during the 1980s.
Another strategy developed by Ham was having recorded messages by
the very stars being played, such as, "Hi, I'm Tony Bennett, and I
hope you're enjoying the Music of Your Life". Then Ham, known for
the State Farm commercials, added a theme song which the great
stars also recorded.

Competing satellite networks of radio stations began—Stardust
(now Timeless by ABC
Radio) and AM Only (now Dial Global's "Adult
Standards," a/k/a "America's Best Music"). Ham and
West had to take advantage of the new technology in order to remain
successful. Unistar Radio Networks, which
distributed AM Only, bought a majority interest in Music of Your
Life and made it a satellite format in 1990.

Unfortunately, the new distributors of Music of Your Life wanted
listeners in the 25 to 54 age group (the most desired audience for
advertisers), while the music had been designed for listeners over
50. Ham, who had wanted to retire, had to take over once again. He
realized that as Americans aged, perhaps advertisers would take an
interest in the older audience once again.

Ham redesigned the music, since someone 50 years old in the
1990s would be of a different generation than the 50-year-old he
targeted in 1978. The job of finding affiliates came next.

Kerry and Tammy Fink worked at Mix 106 radio in northeast Georgia, a station whose owners
had taken over management of the troubled WCGX. The area was becoming a popular place to
retire, and the Finks realized they should go after older
listeners. Tammy, who was younger than the average fan of adult
standards, had worked at a station playing this style of music and
enjoyed listening to Music of Your Life with older relatives,
persuaded Kerry to play this music. Others who worked at Mix 106
also enjoyed this music, and Kerry contacted Ham.

WCGX became a test station. Record companies were taking
advantage of new technology, and digitally
remastered versions of the old songs became available, allowing
the recordings to sound as good as when they were new. With only compact discs, the new Music of Your Life
targeted older listeners as well as people like Tammy.

The new station depended heavily on volunteers. Station manager
Tim Johnston enjoyed the music and agreed to take charge sales.
Frank King, a member of the Mix 106 sales staff, had worked for
Music of Your Life in St. Louis and took the morning shift. WCGX
asked listeners to tell others about the station, and the station
soon became profitable. Receptionist Kathy Lightfoot took the
afternoon shift, and Kerry told Ham this format could be a success
if he resumed satellite delivery to stations around the
country.

Kerry Fink started Music of Your Life Radio services Inc., which
marketed Al Ham Productions' Music of Your Life. Later their
company became Music of Your Life LLC.

Ham knew Chuck Southcott, who had worked at
Music of Your Life affiliates KPRZ and KMPC in Los Angeles. Southcott was working at KJQI, a successful adult standards
station when Kerry and Ham asked him to develop the new version of
Music of Your Life.

Fink and Ham decided not to use the term "nostalgia", which had
a negative meaning. These songs were not old, but good. They did
not necessarily remind listeners of another time. Instead, they
just sounded good. The new format had to promote this idea,
comparing the great pop songs to classical music. The answer to those
who wondered about listeners getting too old or no longer being
alive to hear the music: classical works had existed for hundreds
of years, and people still enjoyed them. Perhaps, according to this
logic, high school bands will still be playing "In the Mood" by Glenn Miller in 2050,
and "New York, New York" will still be the theme song of that
city.

One major development that showed promise for the
format--performers such as Bennett showing up on MTV. Also, younger artists such as Harry
Connick, Jr. were making the music popular with young people.
[1]
Films such as "Sleepless in Seattle," and a number of commercials,
had used the music found in the adult standards format.[2]

And if the music was not supposed to be "old", neither were the
announcers. Ham wanted DJs who had the attitude of radio
personalities playing today's music. Ham and Southcott contacted
two friends who were also radio veterans: Gary Owens and Wink Martindale.

To overcome advertiser reluctance to go after the 50-plus
audience, Ham and Fink studied successful adult standards stations
from around the country, as well as the problems of those stations
that were not doing well. They asked WBYUNew Orleans general manager David Smith to
develop a training program for affiliates. WSAICincinnati general manager Peter Zolnowski
created a newsletter. Affiliates would be given whatever help they
needed.

Distribution required the highest quality, and Fink knew people
at Dalet Digital Media. Jones Radio
Network would distribute the format from Denver. The redesigned Music of Your Life made
its debut from Los Angeles June 15, 1996. [1]

One year later, there were 70 stations, including WGUL in the Tampa market, whose chairman Carl
Marcocci held the same position with Music of Your Life. Affiliates
were learning that going after over-50 listeners was nothing to be
ashamed of; these people were active and had lots of money to
spend, and advertisers could reach them if they just made the
effort.[2]
Two years later, the format had increased its number of affiliates
from 4 to 114. One of the most successful was KGIL in Los Angeles. Other success stories
included WLUX in Long Island. Part of
the format's success was adding newer artists such as Linda Ronstadt,
Rita Coolidge
and The
Association, as well as swing bands such as the Brian Setzer Orchestra and the Bill Elliott
Swing Orchestra. The name "Music of Your Life" was trademarked, the
only radio format to do this. One of its slogans was "Where the
stars play the stars" -- this was because Pat Boone and Patti Page
served as weekend DJs, and other performers featured on "Celebrity
Weekend" included Steve
Allen, Lou Rawls, Glen Campbell, Shirley Jones and
Marty Ingels.

When Frank Sinatra died in 1998, Music of Your Life played 36
straight hours of his music. Since more people listened to this
special programming than to what the format usually aired, the
popularity of the music with a new audience was reinforced.[3]

In January 2008, Fink defaulted on his payments to the Jones
Radio Network for satellite services and as a result, many
affiliates left Music of Your Life. Marc Angell, then President of
Planet Halo, Inc., acquired the Music of Your Life trademark
through a series of transactions. Today, Global Radio Network,
under the direction of Angell, delivers the Music of Your Life
format to a number of AM, FM and HD2 radio stations across the US
and to more than 90 countries worldwide via the Internet at http://www.musicofyourlife.com/ .